Machine for removing snow from trackways.



1.1. BURNS L C. L. MCCUEN.

MACHsNE FoP. Rimovm SNOW mom THACKWAYS.

APPLiCATlON FILED MAR. 14. 1918.

Patenv-Nov. 12, HHS.

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JAMES J. BURNS AND CHARLES L. MCCUEN, OF ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS.

MACHINE FOR REMOVING SNOW FROM TRACKWAYS.

Application filed March 14, 1918. Serial No. 222,402.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES' J. Bonus` and CHARLES L. MCCUEN, citizens of the United States, residing at Rockford, in the county of Winnebago and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Removing Snow from Trackways, of which the following is a specification. l

rlhis invention relates in general to trackcleaning machines, and has more particular reference to that class especially adapted for removing snow from railway tracks and reducing the snowto water so that the same may be delivered to one side of the trackway.

rIhe primary object of the present invention is to provide a machine of the character described of generally improved construction, by means of which a trackway may be quickly and economically cleared of snow. To this end, we have aimed to provide apparatus which may be mounted on the platform of a. car truck and is designed to expeditiously handle, that is, remove from a trackway and reduce to water any quantity of snow` which may be encountered, leaving a practically' clear way in the snow of greater' width than the trackway,s'o as to provide ample clearance for passage of cars.

Another object of ourinvention is to provide an improved means for gathering snow from a trackway and elevating and delivering the snow to a blower, which in turn delivers the snow to a heating chamber in which the snow is reduced to water. To this apparatus, we have added a rotary beater arranged in an advantageous manner to insure continuous passage of the snow from the delivery end of the elevator into the intake mouth of the blower. These parts are constructed and arranged in a particularly advantageous manner aswill be understood more' particularly hereinafter, whereby the snow is handled most directly and practically for the purposes desired.

Referring to the accompanying draw- Figure 1 is a plan view of a machine y for removing snow from trackways, illustrating one embodiment of ourinvention;

' Fig. 2, a side elevation of the machine;

and v y Fig. 3, a longitudinal sectional view'substantially centrally through the machine.

Our improvements may be suitably mount- Specification of Letters Patent. Patented NGV, 12, 1918..

ed, as upon the platform of an ordinary car l truck, and in the present instance we have illustrated` such a vehicle quite diagrammati1 cally. It consists of a platform supported by suitable trucks 5, only one of which is shown. Upon and extending forwardly from the forward end of the platform is "2*:

suitably mounted' a combined plowV and end'- less elevating conveyer'. As noted in Figs. 1 andv 3', the plow'structure comprisesan in clined scoop having a front edge 'extending crosswiseof thetrackway and a substan'- tial distance beyond the railsso as to'clear a suiiiciently wide passage. While the plow andelevator are supported from the vehicle, we have equipped the plow with shoes `7 par'- ticularly adapted to ride on the rails 8 in 4" the event the load upon the platform and elevating carrier becomes excessive. Upright side walls 9 define 'the sides of the plow carrier-way and converge inwardly so as to provide a restricted delivery end 11 of subs'tantiallyA the width of the elevating conveyer,'as indicated in Fig. 1. Referring to Fig. 3, it will be noted that the endless ele-- vating conveyer designated in general by characterv 1'2 mounted to revolve about the shafts 13 and 14, is arranged so that its upper reach 15 is disposed substantially in the plane of the inclined plow surface and constitutes acontinuation thereof.

How-

ever, the lower end of the elevator is disend, which serves as a beater chamber as will presently be described. By reason of this construction when the vehicle is moved forwardly the snow in the path of the plow willbe gathered thereby and' guidedby the surfaces 6, 9 and 17 onto the carrier 15 which is continuously revolved by means men' tioned hereinafter. This carrierl may be suitably: constructed forv the purpose, that is, provided with suitable cleats or other means for'engaging the snow and insuring continuous elevation thereof without danger-` df clogging. e

The snow is thus delivered bythe elevator into a beater chamber 11 at the deliveryend of the elevator, which lchamber is inclosed by a suitable housing 18. Within this chamber and preferably substantially directly above the delivery end of the elevator is arranged a beater for breaking up the snow and delivering it onward through the pas sage and into the intake mouth 19' of a blower 21. The beater designated by character 22 and mounted on a shaft 23 adapted t0 be revolved by means to be presentlymentioned, may be of any construction suitable for the purpose, and in the present instance, we have provided the beater with radially projecting arms extending practically coextensive with the width of the elevating conveyer 15. When the beater is revolved in a counter-clockwise direction viewing Fig. 3, the snow which has been elevated by the conveyer will be broken up by the beater and passed thereby through the mouth between the conveyer and beater and thence into the converging passage 2e which leads to the intake mouth 19 of the blower 21. This blower, of a rotary fan type, is designed to blow the snow through the conduit 25 into the heating chamber 26. The suc tion of the blower serves to draw the snow through the passage 24 thereby assisting in maintaining a continuous movement of the snow at this point.

The snow, blown back through the conduit 25 into the heating chamber 26, is melted in the latter and runs into a reservoir 27 and thence delivered to one side of the trackway through an overflow 28. |The chamber 26 may be heated by any suitable medium, but l prefer to employ electric heating elements, since the present apparatus is designed especially for use on street railways where electric motive power is used, and consequently, electric current is immediately accessible. The electric heating elements may be suitably lconstructed and arranged for the purpose of melting the snow delivered into the chamber and at present are indicated by character 29, being in the form of horizontally spaced resistance wires or heating elements. The blower delivery conduit 25 may, if desired, be un- -coupled at 20 and swung sidewise about its swivel mounting on the top of the blower, so as to discharge the snow laterally in a pile flanking the trackway. g

The driving mechanism for operating the blower, the beater and the elevator is preferably driven from an electric motor and may be of any suitable or preferred construction. Since the driving connection might be established through any of various agencies, We have, in the present instance, illustrated an electric motor 31 mounted on the plat-` form 4 and connected by a belt to a drive shaft 32, which in turn is directly connected by means of bevel gears 33 to the blower shaft. Driving connection is established between the shaft 32 and the beater shaft 23 through the agency of a belt 34C, and the endless conveyer or elevator 15 is driven from the beater shaft 23 through the medium of a belt 35 arranged as shown in Fig. 2, so that the beater and conveyer will be revolved in the proper directions. It will be understood, as already mentioned, that the particular means of driving the several instrumentalities is not important, and it will also be understood that in use proper guards or housings will be provided for the driving mechanism, not only for the purpose of shielding them from snow and other obstructions, but for safety purposes.

Referring now to the general operation of our improved track cleaning machine, it will be readily understood that when the machine is propelled forwardly over a track covered with snow, the latter will be scooped up and gathered by the plow and delivered onto the elevating conveyer. It will be noted that the plow is shaped so that as it is forced ahead the snow-will be guided upwardly and inwardly onto the conveyer, so that the snow is elevated both through the force of propelling the plow forwardly and through the movement of the carrier. The snow is thus delivered into the passage 24 leading to the blower, intake mouth and is at the same time disintegrated and forced info such mouth by the rapidly revolving beater 22, assisted by suction of the blower. The snow having been thus delivered and drawn into the blower will be blown thereby into the heating chamber and reduced to water as has been mentioned before. This operation is continuous and the several instrumentalities have been designed and arranged to this end so that snow may be handled in either small or large quantities equally well in a most expeditious manner.

It is believed that the foregoing conveys a clear understanding of the objects prefaced above, and it should be vunderstood that while we have illustrated but one embodiment of our` improvements, the construction might be changed and modified considerably without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the accompanyng claims, in whiching up snow and delivering it into the conduit, and an endless conveyer arranged to elevate and deliver gathered snow into the mouth of said conduit.

2. A machine for removing snow from a track or road way comprising, a vehicle carrying the following: a heating chamber, a blower for delivering snow to the heating chamber, a plow for removing snow from the way to be cleared, and an endless conveyer arranged to receive snow gathered by the plow and to elevate and deliver the snow into the intake mouth of the blower.

3. A machine for removing snow from a track or road way comprising, a vehicle carrying the following: a heating chamber, a

blower for delivering snow to the heating chamber, a plow for removing snow from the way to be cleared, an endless conveyer arranged to receive snow gathered by the plow and to elevate and deliver the snow into the intake mouth of the blower, and a rotary beater positioned above and in proximity to the delivery7 end of the conveyer for breaking up the snow and forcing it into the intake mouth of the blower.

4:. A snow removing machine of the character described comprising, a vehicle, an inclined endless elevating conveyer extending downwardly and forwardly from the front of the vehicle, a plow having an inclined raising surface disposed substantially in the inclined plane of the upper reach of the conveyer and extending marginally about the outer sides and lower end of the conveyer, said plow surface at its lower or gathering end being wider than the conveyer and having upright sides which converge upwardly toward the delivery end of the conveyer so as to provide a restricted delivery opening, and means disposed in said delivery opening for breaking up the snow and moving it rearwardly.

5. A snow removing machine of the character described comprising, a vehicle, a snow Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the plow at the frontof the vehicle shaped to provide an inclined way by means of which the snow in the path of the plow may be conveyed onto the vehicle, the inclined surface of the plow having a central longitudinal opening therein, and an inclined endless conveyer, the upper reach of which is disposed in said opening for assisting in elevating the snow gathered by the plow through forward movement of the vehicle.

6. A machine for removing snow from a track or roadway comprising, a vehicle, means at the front thereof for gathering snow in the trackway and elevating the snow including a plow and an elevating conveyer, a blower into which the snow is adapted to be delivered for disposing of the snow, and beating means positioned in proximity to the delivery end of the conveyer and arranged for breaking up the snow and assisting in moving the same to the blower.

7. A snow removing machine of the character described comprising a vehicle, a snow plow at the front thereof shaped to provide an inclined way by means of which the snow in the` path of the plow may be conveyed onto the vehicle, an inclined endless conveyer coperating with the plow for assisting in elevating the snow gathered thereby through forward movement of the machine,

-and a rotary beater in cooperative relation with the upper portion of the elevating con.- veyer for breaking up the snow and moving it rearwardly.

JAMES J. BURNS. CHARLES L. MCCUEN.

Commissioner of Batents,

Washington, D. C. 

